Baseball Quiz: 1) For you Phillies fans out there, name the four to have hit 250 home runs in a Philadelphia uniform. 2) And for everyone else, who played the most regular-season games without ever playing in a postseason game? 3) Ten Hall of Famers never played in the minor leagues. I’ll give you six of ‘em; Mel Ott, Bob Feller, Eppe Rixey, Eddie Plank, Frankie Frisch, and Ted Lyons. Give me the other four…all post-1960. Answers below.
Congratulations, Japan!!!
Wow…I confess to watching zero of the Women’s World Cup until the final but I caught a little of the first half (Mets were on against the Phillies, you understand) and then the rest of the game. Just an awesome performance by the Japanese, and an incredible choke job by the U.S. (see British Open as well).
Of course no nation deserved to win it more than Japan. Good for them.
[And how freakin’ stupid was it to run a Nike commercial praising the U.S. and their ability to stand up to pressure right after the game…with the two jerseys you could read, “Solo and Lloyd,” two who choked when it counted most.]
British Open
The Sunday Times of London’s Nick Pitt summed it up heading into the final round.
“After a third round of casual brilliance, and in the evening of his career, Darren Clarke has a wonderful opportunity to crown his golfing life with victory in The Open Championship.”
It’s kind of ironic that last time I decided to include a little anecdote about Darren Clarke, saying he “is one of the more likeable players in the world.” Of course I had no clue that the same guy, one with no top tens in a major since 2001, would four days later carve out one of the more popular wins in ages. For this week at Royal St. George’s, Darren Clarke wasn’t just one of the more likeable golfers in the field, he was numero uno, and the third major winner from Northern Ireland in 13 months, which is downright startling.
And how well loved is Clarke among his fellow competitors? All you had to do was see Davis Love III come up to give him a hug before the trophy presentation, Love having finished about 30 minutes earlier (after which most players are halfway home). And Clarke himself was most appreciative that Tiger had sent him two texts Saturday night, the two being good friends.
As for the Americans, it’s six straight majors we’ve come up empty. In this case, both Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson were right there, only to fall back and finish tied for second and 3 shots behind Clarke. Phil was fashioning a spectacular final round, -6 thru 10 holes, but then bogeyed four of his next six, while Johnson was just two back heading into No. 14 and inexplicably hit one of the worst second shots you’ll ever see out of bounds. Because Dustin didn’t have the lead, like he did in the U.S. Open at Pebble before shooting 82, and last year’s PGA Championship where he was leading by one heading to No. 18 and was penalized for grounding his club illegally, thus blowing that one, Sunday’s debacle isn’t exactly in the same category as the prior two but it’s all part of the resume when it comes to the majors.
Meanwhile, Mickelson choked in his own way by once again missing some super short putts after tying for the lead.
But Darren Clarke was a more than deserving winner, and, hey, a pretty popular one I think you’d agree.
Golf Balls
–How great was Tom Watson? All the 61-year-old did was get his second career hole-in-one in a major on Friday (Watson’s 15th overall in competition) and shoot 72-70-72-72, +6 and a T-22, along with 52-year-old Tom Lehman.
–I can never recall seeing more missed short putts in any golf tournament, let alone a major.
–The aforementioned Davis Love, 47, had a quality event, T-9, but is there anyone who looks worse in his clothes? I mean Davis knows he’s got to dump Polo because they have hideous looking golf outfits, including the rain gear. Love looks downright goofy in Polo wear.
–How happy are the folks at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, Clarke’s home course? They got $millions in free publicity. I’ve only played Royal County Down in the North but have to make it to Portrush soon while I can still hit a driver a decent ways. Then again, I was hitting a friend’s new metal woods the other day at a range and the difference with my now 10-year-old clubs was amazing. So I’m going to get a job washing dishes this week to get the money to pay for new ones.
–The Wall Street Journal’s Jared Diamond noted the top 250 golfers in the world hail from 31 different countries. So which country is really best? Northern Ireland, of course, which has five golfers ranked in the top 250.
“All told, the country has one point in the Official Golf World Rankings for every 2,154 people that live there – by far the best ratio of any country with at least three players in the top 250.”
Sweden is second, with one point for every 9,156 people. Scotland is 3rd. England is 8th. The United States 10th.
–Fortune magazine has a piece by Daniel Roberts titled “Is Tiger Woods Running Out of Money?” No matter how rich you are, a rumored $100 million divorce settlement has to hurt, and then the fact so many of his major sponsors abandoned him after the sex scandal, let alone he has either been injured or ineffective when he did play. Even one of his last major sponsors, Nike, cut his pay 50%, from $20 million to $10 million. For 2011, his endorsement money could be as low as $20 million when once it was in the $100 million neighborhood.
Now I know what many of you are thinking. Boy, that’s still a ton of money. But look at Tiger’s massive expenses. Aside from the divorce settlement, he has a $54.5 million mortgage on his Jupiter Island, Florida property and he’s required to pay it in full by January of 2016. So with just this alone, he’s shelling out $10 million+ each year. And there are other properties that Tiger owns.
–I was reading where Arizona State turned its men’s golf program over to Tim Mickelson, 34, Phil’s younger brother. Am I the only one who didn’t know Tim even existed? I mean I don’t recall seeing him at any of his brother’s big moments.
–The Journal’s Jason Gay notes that this is really “the summer of Jack,” as in Jack Nicklaus. With Tiger’s disappearance, it is going to be a long time, if ever, before Jack’s 18-major mark is threatened and it’s like it’s dawned on everyone this year that Jack really is the best, all time, and the young guns on Tour are flocking to him for advice.
–And just a note on the PGA Tour event taking place this weekend in Mississippi, the Viking Classic. 51-year-old Tom Pernice Jr. finished T-2 to rookie Chris Kirk; Kirk’s first win. I love the way Pernice is trying to play both the regular and senior tours. He’s obviously got some game left.
Ball Bits
–At the All-Star break, the Pittsburgh Pirates had their best record at that stage since 1992, which happens to be the last time they finished with a winning record. After winning on Sunday they are 49-44.
And as Johnny Mac pointed out to me on Friday, what a remarkable effort by hurler Jeff Karstens that night as he shut out the Astros on just 83 pitches, 64 for strikes! Needless to say he didn’t walk anyone.
–The Chicago Cubs are on pace for fewer than three million in attendance for the first time in eight years, though it is a lot worse than the sales indicate. Ticket brokers buy in bulk and as one told the Wall Street Journal, “Some games in April, I had 300 to 400 unsold seats.” Another said it was the worst year he’s seen in 18 seasons. “I count the days ‘til it’s over.” Some scalpers have become so frustrated they’re just giving tickets away.
To be fair, bad weather hasn’t helped, but there’s also a difference between the Cubs and their lovable losers image and a team that just flat out sucks.
–Speaking of attendance, the Mets played the Phillies at Citi Field this weekend, going 1-2, but the weather was great and yet the Mets’ crowds were awful for such an attractive series. The announced totals of 34,000 to 37,000 were far from that. The franchise is on the verge of a death spiral.
–Boy, the Yankees’ CC Sabathia has been on an incredible roll. After going just 0-1 in his first four starts of the season, Sabathia is 14-3 in his last 17.
–Finally, 70 years ago, July 17, 1941, Joe DiMaggio grounded into a bases-loaded double play in the eighth inning to go hitless in three at-bats, thus ending his 56-game hitting streak, as Cleveland third baseman Ken Keltner robbed the Yankee Clipper twice.
From “Baseball Anecdotes” by Daniel Okrent and Steve Wulf:
“As DiMaggio and (Lefty) Gomez got into a cab to go to Municipal Stadium for a night game against the Indians on July 17, the streak stood at 56.
“The cab driver looked in his rear-view mirror, recognized DiMaggio, and said, ‘I got a feeling if you don’t get a hit the first time up, they’re going to stop you tonight.’
“Gomez chastised the driver. ‘What the hell is this? What are you trying to do, jinx him?’ DiMaggio just smiled and left the driver a big tip. [Ed. Not exactly Joe D.’s reputation, at least in later years.]
“In the first inning, DiMaggio hit a smash down the third base line, but Ken Keltner backhanded it and fired a fine throw from foul territory. DiMaggio walked in the fourth. He hit another hot shot at Keltner in the seventh, but the third baseman again threw him out. On a 2-and-1 pitch from Jim Bagby, Jr., in the eighth, DiMaggio hit a hard grounder to shortstop Lou Boudreau, who played a bad hop and started a double play.
“DiMaggio simply rounded first, picked up his glove [Ed. they left them in the outfield in those days] and trotted to center. According to one account, ‘There was no kicking of dirt, no shaking of the head.’ Said DiMaggio as he arrived at his locker after the game, ‘Well, that’s over.’”
In the 56 games, Joe D. had 91 hits in 223 at-bats, a .408 average, with 15 HR and 55 RBI (plus 21 walks).
It all had begun in a 13-1 loss to the White Sox that left the Yankees 14-15 and in fourth place, 6 ½ games back in the American League standings. But New York won 41 times during Joe D.’s run to lead the standings by six games on its way to the A.L. pennant (by 17 games!) and World Series title in five over Brooklyn.
By the way, on July 18, DiMaggio started a new 16-game hitting streak with a pair of hits. In fact, from May 2 to August 3, he was on base in every game.
And to show you what his Yankee teammates thought of him, as Okrent and Wulf describe, on Aug. 29, the team had just arrived in Washington when roommate Gomez insisted they stop by George Selkirk’s room before hitting the restaurant. DiMaggio was a little irritated, Gomez having taken too long in the shower. “All the steaks will be gone,” he said.
But when the two walked into Selkirk’s room, “there were 40 men – Yankees and sportswriters – with champagne glasses raised for a toast. Gomez presented DiMaggio with a silver cigar humidor which pitcher Johnny Murphy had ordered from Tiffany’s. On the cover was a relief likeness of DiMaggio in mid-swing, on one side was the number 56 and on the other side the number 91, signifying each hit he had during the streak. And there was an inscription: ‘Presented to Joe DiMaggio by his fellow players on the New York Yankees to express their admiration for his consecutive-game hitting record, 1941.’”
Wonder what happened to that amazing piece of memorabilia? Part of me wants to say I may have seen it in the Hall of Fame.
Note: Important…I was watching Sunday’s “Baseball Tonight” on ESPN, after I had written the above up, and they said the Yankees won 44 during the streak, not the 41 I say. So I went back to Baseballreference.com and the Yanks were 14-14 when the streak started and 55-27 when it ended…thus 41-13.
On May 23 during the streak, there was a 9-9 suspended game. On May 29, a 2-2 suspended contest; neither of which was decided later, as far as I can see. The Yankees finished 101-53, but technically were in 156 games. I don’t have the time to check this all out further, but I’m a bit skeptical of ESPN’s claim the Yanks won 44 of the games during Joe D.’s streak. They did point out he struck out only five times, however.
–I have to admit…now that the NFL lockout appears to be nearly over I’m ready for some football chat. One of the major issues all along, rookie pay, I always thought was the easiest, a no-brainer. Now it seems the top draft picks from the 2011 draft will make about half what those from 2010 did. Some of the past contracts were beyond absurd. Now they’ll get real.
But the big feature of the proposed collective bargaining agreement is a $120 million salary cap, “with players agreeing to a team minimum cash payroll of 89% of the cap as long as the league-wide cash guarantee is 99% of the cap. For example, the Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills or Jacksonville Jaguars would be required to have a minimum cash payroll of $106.8 million in 2011. If they fail to reach that level by the end of the season, they would distribute the difference to the players on the team at the end of the season.” [ESPN.com]
The exhibition season is slated to begin with the Hall of Fame game on Aug. 7. It’s possible that could yet be the opener. Keep your fingers crossed.
And with the expectation that the strike is settled by Thursday or Friday, the free agent feeding frenzy will begin July 25. The fun for fans will return.
–Regarding the Roger Clemens fiasco…the New York Daily News’ “I-Team”:
“Rusty Hardin’s smile was as wide as Texas last week as he walked away from the E. Barret Prettyman Federal Courthouse with Roger Clemens in the middle of a media scrum, an eye of calm in a hurricane of cameramen and photographers literally tripping over each other to get their shot.
“U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton had just declared a mistrial in the former Yankee pitcher’s six-count perjury case and all that Hardin and his co-counsel, Michael Attanasio, had to do was stay out of the way as prosecutors Steven Durham and Daniel Butler showed the jury a video from the 2008 congressional hearing that had gotten Clemens in so much trouble in the first place.
“The clip included references to an affidavit Andy Pettitte’s wife had provided to Congress – information Walton had barred as evidence a week earlier – and the furious judge said he had no choice but to call off the proceedings and send the jury home….
“But lawyers and legal experts who have been following the case say that while Hardin knows he won a major battle, he also knows he hasn’t won the war. United States vs. Clemens isn’t going away just yet.”
Yes, the Fifth Amendment protects defendants from being prosecuted twice for the same crime, double jeopardy, but it’s totally up to Judge Walton and the guess is that he “won’t tell the government that the case is over simply because prosecution screwed up.”
So Walton has scheduled a hearing for Sept. 2 and some experts say he will tell prosecutors to compress its case. Others say Hardin should convince Clemens in these next few weeks to take a plea agreement, “especially in the wake of Walton’s pointed comment that he would have sentenced Clemens to prison if (he) had been convicted.” [Daily News]
“The most shocking, inexplicable error in modern baseball history has taken place in a courtroom, not on a field.
“On Thursday, the prosecution…committed an unforced gaffe so stunning that the sports world, and no doubt the legal community, will oscillate between pity and ridicule, incredulity and laughter, for years….
“ ‘I think that a first-year law student would know you can’t bolster the credibility of one witness with clearly inadmissible evidence,’ U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said….
“At least for most dumbfounding error, (Bill) Buckner may finally be off the hook.”
“We can argue from here to the 12th of never whether this trial should have ever happened in the first place but the fact is this: Once the government decided this was a worthy case, it had to proceed, had to prosecute, had to make Clemens answer for allegedly perjuring himself before Congress. When it showed up for work, it would’ve been nice to know that the United States of America had something of a clue what it was doing. And wasn’t sending Marv Throneberry out there to try the case.
“The judge will wait until September to figure out where this goes, which may or may not be enough time on the disabled list for the United States of America to recover from a third-degree brain cramp. But will be more than enough time to gather another pile of our money, throw it in another barbecue pit, and decide whether to use gasoline or kerosene to light it on fire all over again. Good times.”
–Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison was backpedaling furiously after his comments in an interview with Men’s Journal, including on Commissioner Roger Goodell, who Harrison called a “crook” and a “devil.”
“If that man was on fire and I had to piss to put him out, I wouldn’t do it. I hate him and will never respect him.”
And he ripped teammates Rashard Mendenhall and Ben Roethlisberger.
If the Steelers had defeated the Packers in the Super Bowl, Harrison said he would have whispered in Goodell’s ear during the trophy ceremony: “Why don’t you quit and do something else, like start your own league in flag football?”
Harrison was fined $100,000 for illegal hits last season. No telling what will happen the upcoming one.
–A friend of mine from Wake Forest, Paul J., was telling me how his boy recently attended Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s basketball camp down in Durham and even in a simple speech to the campers Coach K was absolutely terrific. He has a little piece of his own in the Wall Street Journal (weekend edition) where he talks of motivation. One anecdote….
“After the 1999 season, when we lost to Connecticut in the national championship game, several of our top players left Duke earlier than expected. Shane Battier, who had played a supporting role on that team, was going to have to become our star.
“Shane and I agreed that he would need to emerge as the team leader, but there was one problem: Shane had never imagined himself as a star.
“After the players had gone home for the summer, I gave Shane a call.
“ ‘Shane,’ I said, ‘this morning, did you look in the mirror and imagine that you were looking at next year’s conference player of the year?’
“The next day I called again. ‘Shane, it’s Coach. When you were on your way to work this morning, did you imagine scoring 30 points in a game this season?’
“He laughed cautiously and began to respond before I hung up again.
“ ‘I won’t hang up on you if you won’t hang up on you,’ I told him.
“Shane needed to imagine these sorts of things in order to become the player that he could be. Before he graduated, Shane earned National Player of the Year honors while leading our team to the 2001 national championship. He had all of the tools necessary to become a great player, but he fully realized his potential only when he allowed himself to imagine great things.”
My own impression of Battier is that, in the purest sense, he was one of the top ‘college basketball players’ I’ve ever seen.
—Georgia Tech forfeited the 2009 ACC football championship, was fined $100,000 and placed on probation by the NCAA for failing to cooperate with an investigation. The men’s basketball team was also part of the probe. They will be forced to reduce recruiting visits.
—The NBA laid off 11 percent of its headquarters staff last week, a move the league said had nothing to do with the lockout, but was instead just part of planned cost-cutting.
–Mark R. says that to reduce the federal deficit, tax sports professionals at 50% for all income over $1 million. “After all, it’s a game.” PGA Tour golfers would be exempt. They’re independent contractors.
–Seattle Seahawks receiver Golden Tate tweeted that Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR superstar and male athlete of the year at the ESPY Awards, wasn’t an athlete. “Driving a car does not show athleticism.”
NASCAR Nation was pissed, as it should be. If you’ve been to just one top level auto race, you know these guys are tremendous athletes.
So I’m sticking Golden Tate’s name in the December file for “Jerk of the Year” consideration, especially after this one of his.
“I’ve driven a car on unknown roads at night at 90mph no big deal. No sign of athleticism.”
—Justin Timberlake, my favorite entertainer just because by all accounts he is the good guy he seems to be, plus he’s a lover of golf, agreed to accompany a U.S. Marine to a military ball, after encouraging his “Friends with Benefits” co-star Mila Kunis to accept a similar invitation.
Timberlake was asked out by Corporal Kelsey De Santis, to which Justin said, “I’ll tell you what, I accept…I don’t get asked out. Ever. So I was very flattered by that. And I hear that she’s trained in martial arts so I’m hoping we can tussle.”
Kunis, despite scheduling conflicts, has vowed she will attend as well.
–By now you’ve all heard of the Princeton University study on wild baboons in Africa over a period of nine years, that the top-ranked alpha male got a lot of sex, but was also major league stressed out, whereas the No. 2 beta male, the next one down in the hierarchy, still got to roll around with the hottest females but had nowhere near the stress the top guy had.
Not much, said Robert M. Sapolsky, a stress expert and Stanford University professor.
“A baboon troop is not a corporation with an executive – alpha male or otherwise – making decisions,” he said.
I’m guessing Robert Sapolsky hasn’t seen the new Planet of the Apes trailers. Gotta tell ya, that looks like my kind of totally senseless, but highly enjoyable summer entertainment.
—Jerry Ragovoy died the other day at the age of 80. He wrote or collaborated on the Rolling Stones’ “Time Is On My Side” and Janis Joplin’s “Piece Of My Heart,” “Cry Baby” and “Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)”. Way back in the early 1950s he was writing and producing hits, and in the 1970s produced albums for the likes of Bonnie Raitt and Dionne Warwick.
–Nice seeing country rock star Keith Urban get a rave review for a concert he gave at the Prudential Center in Newark the other night. I had a blast catching his act in Milwaukee a few years ago.
—Sir Paul McCartney rocked Yankee Stadium this weekend. As Jim Faber of the Daily News commented:
“McCartney’s shows act as living museums, the last faithful recreations of what many see as pop culture’s most sacred catalogue.”
–Martin Scorsese did a documentary on Beatle George Harrison, “Living in the Material World,” that will debut on HBO this October and then be available on DVD the same month. It’s been ten years since my favorite Beatle passed away.
Top 3 songs for the week of 7/18/70: #1 “Mama Told Me (Not To Come)” (Three Dog Night) #2 “The Love You Save” (The Jackson 5) #3 “(They Long To Be) Close To You” (Carpenters…oooh waahhhhh)…and…#4 “Band Of Gold” (Freda Payne…has held up well) #5 “Ball Of Confusion” (The Temptations…not one of my faves of theirs) #6 “Ride Captain Ride” (Blues Image…if you can remember they did this song, you obviously haven’t killed the brain cell responsible for such things as I have…killed mine in a dingy bar in Maud, Okla., summer of ’78… Seriously, ask me who did this song in two days and I won’t remember) #7 “Lay Down” (Melanie with The Edwin Hawkins Singers) #8 “O-o-h Child” (The 5 Stairsteps… solid tune…best sung in the car without any passengers and the windows up) #9 “Gimme Dat Ding” (The Pipkins) #10 “Make It With You” (Bread…I’d really like to comment on this one, but I’d lose my International Web Site Association license, yet another reminder to always look for the IWSA label for your assurance of Web quality).
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Four Phillies to hit 250 home runs in a Phils uniform. Mike Schmidt, 548; Ryan Howard, 271; Del Ennis, 259; Pat Burrell, 251. Boy, I forgot how good Del Ennis was. Playing from 1946-59, the first 11 seasons with Philadelphia, Ennis had nine years with 20+ homers and seven 100-RBI seasons, including a league-leading 126 in 1950. For his career he hit 288 HR and drove in 1284 while batting .284. As Ronald Reagan said at the time, “Not bad…not bad at all.” 2) Ernie Banks played the most regular-season games without ever appearing in a postseason contest …2,528. 3) The other four Hall of Famers who never played in the minors were Al Kaline, Sandy Koufax, Dave Winfield and Catfish Hunter. [The last two questions were courtesy of George Will.]
IWSA approved. 2011.
